GLOW is in full swing in Cork City every weekend until Christmas... and pantos open too!

WE’RE into December already! From now on it will be all go, with everyone determined to create the best Christmas ever, despite – or perhaps because of – what we have all been through in the past two years.

And right on cue, GLOW, that wonderful Cork Christmas Celebration, has already opened on the Grand Parade, and will be in full swing every weekend till December 19.

Bishop Lucey Park has been transformed into a festive wonderland and yes, that amazing 32metre Ferris Wheel is back! This year, of course, safety is both the Park’s and the Ferris Wheel’s top priority, and pre-booking for both is essential on glowcork.ie

We love the light installations which illustrate the Twelve Days of Christmas in Bishop Lucey Park. These will be brought to life over the next three weekends with drummers, dancers, hula-hoops, golden-egg-laying geese, splendid swans and certainly more birds than could ever fit in a pear tree. Elves too, busy in Santa’s Pop-Up workshop.

From Friday to Sunday for the next three weekends, with the Ferris Wheel open from noon to 9pm each day and Bishop Lucey Park from 4.30 to 8.30pm. And don’t forget that pre-booking is essential on www.glowcork.ie.

Keeping up the seasonal spirit, the Coronas return to the Opera House with their amazing new show on Monday next, December 6. As one of Ireland’s biggest bands, selling out everywhere they played, the pandemic obviously changed their plans last year, but not to be perturbed, they released the album True Love Waits in August and took the No.1 spot in the album charts, becoming the fastest selling Irish album of 2020. Now they are back and live on stage at the Opera House.

Then, from Friday, the gloriously crazy world of pantomime returns, with Nanny Nellie’s Adventures in Pantoland. Join Nanny, her nephew Jack, best friend Jill, and zany, madcap Fairy Tonkerbell on a magical adventure to save Pantoland and all its fairytale favourites from the evil magician Balthazar. Will they succeed? Better get your tickets and find out.

Please note that in a new departure this year, and to prioritise patrons’ safety - the Opera House panto will be a 75-minute show without an interval. Booking for all Opera House shows on www.corkoperahouse.ie or 021 427 0022.

At the Everyman, the lights will go up on the magical world of Aladdin from Wednesday next, December 8, the traditional date that marks the start of the festive season in Cork from olden times.

This was always the day that farmers and their wives came into town to order the turkey, the goose, the spiced beef, and perhaps to buy a few toys for the children. So where better to be than at that great old Victorian music hall on McCurtain Street, now the home of the Everyman?

Even the Palace ghost has been seen flitting around the auditorium, humming to himself as he sprinkles a little fairy dust here, puts up some tinsel there…

Widow Twankey, skilfully dodging the ghost as she makes her grand entrance, is played by Ciaran Bermingham, with Fionula Linehan as Wishee, Dayl Cronin as Aladdin, and Marion Goggin as Jasmine. And here too the show will run for 90 minutes, with no interval. Safety first is the motto in all our theatres. www.everymancork.com or 021 450 1673 for all bookings.

A lovely show at the Cork Arts Theatre from next Tuesday to Thursday, December 7 to 9. @ 7.30pm. Say It In Song at Christmas has a cast drawn from the Performers Academy Youth Choir in the Firkin Crane, and singing students of Orla Palliser Kehoe, ranging in age from 9 to 18

The show will include favourite numbers from musical theatre and festive classics. You’ll go home with a smile on your face and a song in your heart, and isn’t that what Christmas is all about? Bookings on 021 450 5624.